Legal recreational marijuana: What's in it for school-age children?
If the initiative gets on the ballot in November and passes, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol estimates schools stand to rake in about $40 million a year.
The Arizona Joint Legislative Budget Committee, coincidentally, released its findings this week, estimating that number to be about $55.7 million by 2020.
"Certainly we were kind of surprised," CRMLA chair J.P. Holyoak said. "We didn't expect our state legislature to put out the (high) numbers they did."
Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy chair Seth Leibsohn said -- don't be too impressed.
"The money that the JLBC just put out shows it to be about 1/10 of what voters just approved in Prop 123. It turns out to be about $15 dollars a student, a year," Leibsohn said. "You're not going to see any positive effects for students from this. You're going to see a lot of education deficits though."
The two camps have been fiercely battling over the past year. CRMLA argues AZ schools need the financial windfall, ARDP countering that it will come at a price -- more kids will start using pot.
On Thursday, the CRMLA submitted more than 250,000 signatures, around 100,000 more than required to get an initiative on the ballot. Eleven workers with the Arizona Secretary of State began sifting through the names. They will submit a portion of them to the counties they were obtained in for further vetting to be sure they are legitimate. According to AZ Elections Director Eric Spencer, they have 20 days to complete the process.
